France -- History -- Revolution, 1789-1799 -- Fiction
"You will see M. Dubois-Guy at Saint-Brice-en-Cogle, M. de Turpin
at Morannes, which is a fortified town, and the Prince de Talmont at
Château-Gonthier."
"Will a prince speak to me?"
"Am I not speaking to you?"
Halmalo took off his hat.
"You need but to show Madam's fleur-de-lis, and your welcome is
assured. Remember that you will have to go to places where there are
mountaineers and _patauds._[1] You will disguise yourself. That is
an easy matter, since the republicans are so stupid that with a blue
coat, a three-cornered hat, and a cockade, you may go anywhere. The
day of regiments and uniforms has gone by; the regiments are not even
numbered, and every man is at liberty to wear any rag he fancies. You
will go to Saint-Mhervé. You will see Gaulier, called Grand-Pierre.
You will go to the cantonment of Parné, where all the men have swarthy
faces. They put gravel in their muskets and use a double charge of
powder to make more noise. They do well; but be sure and tell them
to kill, kill, and kill. You will go to the camp of the Vache-Noire,
which is an elevation in the midst of the forest of La Charnie, from
Vache-Noire to the camp of l'Avoine, then to the camp Vert, and
afterwards to the camp of the Fourmis. You will go to Grand-Bordage,
also called Haut-du-Pré, where lives the widow whose daughter married
Treton the Englishman; that is in the parish of Quelaines. You will
visit Épineux-le-Chevreuil, Sillé-le-Guillaume, Guillaume, Parannes,
and all the men in hiding throughout the woods. You will make friends
and you will send them to the borders of upper and lower Maine; you
will see Jean Treton in the parish of Vaisges, Sans-Regret in Bignon,
Chambord in Bonchamps, the Corbin brothers at Maisoncelles, and
Petit-Sans-Peur at Saint-Jean-sur-Evre. He is the one who is called
Bourdoiseau. Having done this, and uttered the watchwords, 'Revolt!'
'No quarter!' in all these places, you will join the royal and catholic
grand army, wherever it may be. You will see d'Elbée, de Lescure, de
la Rochejaquelein, and such leaders as may still be living. You will
show them my commander's knot. They know what it means. You are only a
sailor, but Cathelineau is nothing but a teamster. You will give them
this message from me: It is time to join the two wars, the great and
the small. The great one makes more noise, but the small one does the
work. The Vendée does fairly well, but Chouannerie goes farther, and in
civil war cruelty is a powerful agent. The success of a war depends on
the amount of evil that it causes."
He broke off.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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